To address inconvenience and to reduce costs, we’re launching an
innovative effort called “Retrofit Ramp-Up” that will streamline home
retrofits by reaching whole neighborhoods at a time. If we can audit
and retrofit a significant fraction of the homes on any given
residential block, the cost, convenience and confidence of retrofit
work will be vastly improved. Another goal of this program is to make
energy efficiency a social norm.
To help pay for investments, we’re working with the Department of
Housing and Urban Development to encourage new financing tools. For
example, homeowners might pay back energy improvement loans via an
assessment on their property tax bill. Out-of-pocket expenses are
eliminated and energy savings will exceed the increase in property tax.
Both the savings and the loan payments would stay with the house if the
owners decide to sell.
Another opportunity comes when a property changes hands. Banks require
a structural inspection and a termite inspection; they should also ask
for the last year’s worth of utility bills, which speaks directly to
the home’s affordability. If improvements are needed, the costs could
be seamlessly tacked onto the mortgage.
The greatest gains can be realized in new construction. By developing
building design software with embedded energy analysis and building
operating systems that constantly tune up a building for optimal
efficiency while maintaining comfort, extremely cost-effective
buildings with energy savings of 60-80% are possible.
Regardless of what the skeptics may think, there are indeed 20-dollar
bills lying on the ground all around us. We only need the will--and
the ways--to pick them up.
